They Were District Four
by SunSpell80
Summary: Home of the Uprising. Home of the Careers. Home of the true Victors. Home of Finnick Odair. Home of the real star-crossed lovers. Home of Annie Cresta Odair. Home of Heroes.


A/N: So this is really different from what I usually do. I've just developed a lot of District Four feels from writing "The Art of Staying Good." I love the ocean and communities that live off the ocean and then you've got the fact that some of my favorite cannon characters (Finnick, Mags, Annie) are from District Four and it all becomes too much. I hope you enjoy this little vignette!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Warnings: Reference to unwilling prostitution (but, for those of you who've read my other fic, it's SO tame in comparison. As in, I just mention it), and the dropping of the f-bomb twice. But tastefully. Spoilers for Mockingjay.

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They Were District Four

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They were District Four.

Home of the Uprising. After Districts Five and Thirteen, they were the most powerful contributors to the rebellion. They raised fierce warriors and did battle at sea with the Capitol. The Capitol controlled the airspace but the Districts controlled the oceans. They completely relied on District Four for their travel and communication until the Capitol destroyed the very last of District Four's fleet. That very same day, District Thirteen was 'destroyed' and the Districts surrendered.

* * *

They were District Four.

Home of the Careers. They refused to let the Capitol take their children without a fight. So they trained their children in secret in the hulls of boats, knowing the sea was still the one place the Capitol could not completely regulate. Some were caught and executed: others were not and went on to dominate the Games. In order to regain control, the Capitol legalized training for the Games as long as the program was registered and maintained by the Capitol themselves. District Four – tired of watching children be executed for breaking the law – readily agreed. They did not realize what they were losing.

* * *

They were District Four.

Home of true Victors. District One was beautiful, District Two was ruthless, but District Four generated the most well-rounded and adept Tributes of all the Districts. When their Victors won, it was for the right reasons, and it was with honor. Their Victors were professions and they never drowned their pain with self-medication or allowed themselves to be swallowed into the Capitol.

* * *

They were District Four.

Home of Finnick Odair. They did not like Finnick, not at first. He rejected their home and chose the Capitol, indulging in their sordid games and pleasures. He did not win for the right reasons. Yes he was strong, but mostly he was pretty. And District Four did not want to become nothing more than a pretty face to the rest of Panem. When the Rebellion began they were wary to accept him as their hero. They did not truly accept him until one night when his voice broke through all Capitol broadcasts, telling the tale of how he'd been forced into prostitution and the Capitol life by force, when all he'd ever wanted was to stay home. Apparently in the Capitol the riots did not start breaking out until he was finished with the story of President Snow and his poison, since everyone in the Capitol was so riveted by the secrets he told. Not in District Four. As soon as Finnick confessed his preamble, there was an almighty roar that overtook the Town Square as all of District Four turned on the Peacekeepers that had just barely been keeping them at bay. District Four drove out the Capitol that night, fueled by their rage and thirst for vengeance.

They were District Four. And if you fucked with one of them, you fucked with all of them.

* * *

They were District Four.

Home of the _real _star-crossed lovers. When news of the wedding came, the recently reorganized District Four government went into full-time planning mode. Everyone was banging on the Justice Building, begging for a permit to attend the wedding in District Thirteen. But President Coin was absolutely firm on no unnecessary transportation until the war was over, so even friends and distant family were turned down. The mayor announced that there would be a special screening of the wedding in the Town Square, which the entire District was invited to attend. The celebration spilled over into all the nearby streets and blocks. In the square, people were pressed together, craning to see the happy couple exchange their vows and touch each other's lips with salt water. Girls, boys, women, men and children were sobbing, hugging one another. Several couples became engaged during that moment, and many more throughout the night. It was hot, sweaty and crowded but everyone persevered, because District Three had their genius Victor, District Seven had Johanna Mason, District Eleven had their little girl martyr, and District Twelve had their Mockingjay, but District Four had their wedding and their lovers who had refused to stop loving each other in spite of everything the Capitol did to stop them.

* * *

They were District Four.

Home of Annie Cresta Odair. She was a strange Victor, with her vacant phases and nervous laughter. Some days she would sit at the end of the pier by her home, singing a long forgotten song to the waves. She almost never wore shoes and preferred to walk along the beach even when the road was quicker. District Four treated her with quiet respect, even those who were too young to remember when she'd swam her way out of a long-destroyed arena, or defied the Capitol with a love so forbidden and deep, or been a symbol for hope and happiness to thousands of people gathered in cramped square, or gave birth to a son who represented the future that so many had died for. Annie was their Victor and they loved her, because District Four took care of their own.

* * *

They were District Four.

Home of Heroes.

* * *

A/N: I hope you liked it! Like I said, very different from my usual work (all vague, and full of general ideas instead of specific details). I mostly wrote it because I got this head-canon idea that District Four had their own celebration for Finnick and Annie's wedding and everyone squeezed into the Town Square to watch it, where it was basically like Times Square on New Years with everyone crying and celebrating and kissing. Unfortunately that won't really fit into "The Art of Staying Good" (1. Because I probably won't write all the way through the wedding, sadly. And 2. Because even if I did, it would obviously be from Finnick's perspective and while he might hear about District Four throwing a celebration, he wouldn't know how massive it was).

I also kind of love the idea of when Finnick revealed the truth about what Snow makes their more attractive do, while the rest of the Districts and the Capitol were transfixed and listened to all of Finnick's secrets before any riots really got going, District Four was like "Oh, _hell no" _and beat the living crap out of all the Peacekeepers who were just barely keeping their hold in District Four. I can imagine them saying, "I'm sorry, _what _did you do to our most popular Victor when he was only sixteen? Hmm, and you thought we'd just be _okay _with that?" mostly because I have imagined District Four as having (at its heart) a strong sense of honor, community and loyalty. That whole section kind of ties back to something I mentioned in "The Art of Staying Good." In it, Finnick wondered how District Four would have reacted if he'd told them the truth when he was sixteen, thinking that no one would care or believe him now that he'd let it go on for so long (he was twenty at the time he was thinking that). This part was kind of a response to that, to show that District Four not only believed him right away, but it made them so incredibly angry they turned the tide of the battle raging in District Four.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. Odesta fans (which is all of you, probably), feel free to check out "The Art of Staying Good," which is my Odesta epic (it turned into an epic out of nowhere). It is much more mature and explicit than this, so those of you with a squeamish stomach beware! But those without please march forward, by all means.


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